Steven Dutch, Professor Emeritus, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
Geologic map of the Valles Caldera and vicinity. Mesozoic sedimentary rocks are green, Paleozoic are blue. Most of the orange and buff units are volcanic. X= Proterozoic. Q=Quaternary. T=Tertiary. Tnr = Tertiary rhyolite. QTsf = Quaternary-Tertiary sediments. v=undifferentiated volcanic rocks, b = basalt, f=felsic rocks
On the main road there's really only one place to see a good panorama of the interior | |
One might hope for nice views driving up the east rim, but the road is forested. Beyond the rim there are views to the east. | |
Not far south is Bandelier National Monument, where Indians carved caves into the volcanic ash beds. | |
Left and below: the road descends through a canyon cut into volcanic ash. The road also has numerous turnoffs into places decidedly not for casual visitors. (Los Alamos is just to the north) | |
https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/repository/data/2011/20110002/GM-79_booklet.pdf
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Created 04 September 2012, Last Update 24 November 2020